Orange Sunburst Earrings

A classic and yet innovative look at bezeling those beautiful Swarovski Crystals. Led by the influence of Laura McCabe, these sunburst earrings were just the right accessory for a beautiful friend for her Birthday Bash. Adding yet more bling, the row behind all the bicone crystals supports one more row of bling, top drilled bicones in 6mm Hyacinth. The center Rivolis are 16mm Chili Pepper, the crystals for the otuside bursts are Sunflower, FireopalAB and Indian Red. The seed beads used were DB 043, DB603 and gold334. The little picots were created using size 15 seed beads in #471, make sure they are permanent or duracoat.

Notice the backs of the Rivolis are completely closed. The method for this enclosure involves a series of shifts from one stitch to another. The circular peyote moves to the back and after two rows of size 15 seed beads, a repeating stitch of one bead up and one bead down is worked around the circle. This sets up the next stitch which is a three bead netting, which sets up again for either another row of netting, with a skip, and then peyote with one bead to close the tips. I find it rather important to close the back of the Rivolis or coat them to protect them and prolong the life of the crystal. Small tiny nicks in the back (often called flea bites in crystal) actually affect the front of the stone and interfere with the reflection of light. We want our Swarovski's to last as long as they can and keep their brilliance!

For more on these beautiful crystals, check out Laura McCabe's book, creating beautiful Crystal Jewerly with Swarovski. Of course, check out my classes at Monica's Quilt and Bead Creations in Palm Desert, where I show you a quick start with two needles and you can find those tiny, tiny size 15 vintage one-cut seed beads as well as lots of colors and sizes in Crystal Rivolis.

Oh, and I made these to be interchangable as well....look closely at the connection of the two earrings components. The links holding them together can be removed and each piece could be reattached to a new earring finding, making two sets of earrings. Add a bit of bling on the bottom of each and ta-da, a new look for both...one casual, one fancy.